People rub their eyes for a variety of reasons, including irritation and discomfort, fatigue, and stress. And while pressing down gently on the eyeballs can slow your heart rate and relieve stress via vagus nerve stimulation, excessive or aggressive rubbing negatively affects eye health. Learn what problems this habit can cause as part of your ongoing commitment to proper eye care.

5 Ways Rubbing Your Eyes is Harmful

1. It Could Scratch Your Cornea

Rubbing your eyes to remove dirt, dust, or other foreign particles can scratch your corneas, or the transparent front layers protecting the anterior chamber as well as the pupils and irises. Scratched corneas can cause blurred vision, nausea, light sensitivities, redness, watering problems, and headaches. Blurred vision is especially problematic if your job involves a lot of driving or operating heavy machinery.

2. It Can Cause Infection

If you rub your eyes with dirty hands, you could easily transfer germs to your eyes and cause an infection such as conjunctivitis. The infection creates yellow or greenish discharge as well as severe watering, redness, and itching. Blurred vision and the feeling of a foreign object in the eye are also conjunctivitis symptoms.

3. It May Break Blood Vessels

Aggressive rubbing can cause the tiny blood vessels in and around the eyes to break. This causes the eyes to look bloodshot and the skin around the eyes to darken, resulting in dark circles under the eyes that make you look tired. 

4. It Makes The Eyes Itchier

Rubbing your eyes may provide temporary relief, but it actually worsens the problem. If you rub your eyes during allergy season instead of using eye care treatments such as eye drops, you release more histamines, or the body’s anti-allergy agents that result in redness, swelling, and irritation.

5. It Thins The Cornea Over Time

Those who keep rubbing their eyes over long periods eventually thin their corneas. Known as keratoconus, this condition pushes the cornea forward to distort vision without professional treatment such as corneal grafts. Thinning corneas are also at greater risk of infection.

Keep the windows to your soul in great condition with eye care services from Dr. Thomas Deluca Dr. Anthony Marciano & Associates. The Prospect, CT, vision center combines traditional with modern technologies to provide comprehensive eye exams, contact lens fittings, and glasses. Call (203) 758-4447 to schedule your next exam or visit the eye care center online for more information about their services.